Today in History
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Today in History |
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August 23, 1994 |
Eugene Bullard joined the French Foreign Legion upon the outbreak of World War I. A native of Georgia, he traveled back to the United States to enlist and fight for his country when the U.S. joined the war. Though he passed his physical, the government denied him a commission as a pilot because of his race. He finished the war flying for the French where he flew some 20 missions and shot down at least two enemy aircraft. Eugene Jacques Bullard was the world's first African-American military pilot and the only black pilot in World War I. On August 23, 1994, Eugene Bullard was posthumously commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force.
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